Kansas City Chiefs Sign Lithuanian Tautvydas Kieras

According to CBS Sports and several other sources, the Kansas City Chiefs have signed Lithuanian track and field star Tautvydas Kieras, to a contract. The twist is that Kieras, who is a world class discus thrower, has never played a down of football in his life.

The 6’3″, 271 lb Lithuanian was on a track and field scholarship at Mississippi State when his eligibility ran out. At the urging of one of his professors, he decided to give American football a try.

Kieras had never even seen a football game until he arrived on campus in 2014. He fell in love with it immediately. Knowing he could not play at the college level because of his ineligibility, he turned to Athletic Gainesand began training to play football in Las Vegas prior to Mississippi State’s pro day last week.

Photo courtesy Athletic Gaines

He took part in pro day, repping the 225-pound bench press 24 times, running an unofficial 4.69 40-yard dash, earning a vertical leap of 35 inches and a broad jump of 9-foot, 8-inches. His broad and vertical jumps were tied for the highest of any athlete measured at the pro day, according to the Mississippi State school website. Had he attended the NFL Combine, his bench press numbers would have ranked him third overall among linebackers.

Apparently, plenty of scouts were impressed. Based on his numbers, the Kansas City Chiefs were willing to take a chance.

Roger Kelly is an editor and a writer for AFI. A former PR Director the B.C. Lions of the Canadian Football League for 7 years, he now lives in Sweden writing about and scouting American Football throughout the world.